A wide variety of downhole tools may be used within a wellbore in connection with producing hydrocarbons or reworking a well that extends into a hydrocarbon formation. Downhole tools such as frac plugs, bridge plugs, and packers, for example, may be used to seal a component against casing along the wellbore wall or to isolate one pressure zone of the formation from another. Such downhole tools are well known in the art.
After the production or reworking operation is complete, these downhole tools must be removed from the wellbore. Tool removal has conventionally been accomplished by complex retrieval operations, or by milling or drilling the tool out of the wellbore mechanically. Thus, downhole tools are either retrievable or disposable. Disposable downhole tools have traditionally been formed of drillable metal materials such as cast iron, brass and aluminum. To reduce the milling or drilling time, the next generation of downhole tools comprises composites and other non-metallic materials, such as engineering grade plastics. Nevertheless, milling and drilling continues to be a time consuming and expensive operation. Therefore, a need exists for disposable downhole tools that are removable without being milled or drilled out of the wellbore, and for methods of removing disposable downhole tools without tripping a significant quantity of equipment into the wellbore. Further, a need exists for disposable downhole tools that are removable from the wellbore by environmentally conscious methods and systems.